Heterogeneity of liver stiffness in chronic HBV infection: Influence on concordance between MRE-based fibrosis staging and biopsy staging

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) viral infection can lead to liver fibrosis. Liver biopsy, the gold standard for liver fibrosis assessment, is invasive and carries risks of complications and sampling errors. MR elastography (MRE) is regarded as the most accurate noninvasive tool for evaluating liver fibrosis. In this study we characterized the spatial heterogeneity of liver stiffness depicted by MRE in patients with CHB and found heterogeneity at all pathological fibrosis stages. The severity of spatial heterogeneity affected the concordance between MRE-based and pathology-based fibrosis staging.